SOMETIMES to go exploring you don’t have to head to faraway climes, just a simple run round a park will suffice.

On Saturday, Cutteslowe Park in Oxford was taken over by dozens of children – and bigger kids – who were orienteering.

The challengers who turned up in the morning were given electronic tags and a map and were sent off to find their way around a course stretching across the park.

At various check points, the racers could “check in” with their electronic tag to time themselves.

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The Watts family of Headington took their son Simeon for his ninth birthday, and he and his friends raced around the park.

Dad Duncan, a part-time vet in Oxford and part-time personnel co-ordinator for a charity in Milton Keynes, said: “It’s great fun to do as a family.

“You run around a beautiful bit of countryside or a park with a map and find various points on the map.

It’s like a cross between a treasure hunt and a cross-country race.”

Mr Watts went on his first orienteering day with Simeon last year, and enjoyed it so much that he signed up the whole family to join Thames Valley Orienteering Club in January.

The club organises monthly orienteering days at Cutteslowe, Shotover Country Park and Hill End Outdoor Centre in Farmoor.

Find out more at tvoc.org.uk